Today, my second miracle — the first baby who gave me the experience of pregnancy and delivery — turned FIVE.

Holy cow, y’all! How is this sweet baby five???? Sigh …

Around here, on birthdays, the Birthday Boy or Girl gets to choose every meal for the day. Mr. Boy debated each meal all day long yesterday, going back and forth on what he wanted. Eventually, he decided on a smoothie for breakfast, a muffin for lunch, and pizza for dinner. Everything else was simply a bunch of details that didn’t matter.

But I’m all about the details, which is why I pulled out the Birthday Food Pics, Birthday Lunchbox Love Note, and Silly Eyes and brought out Mr. Boy’s favorite lunchbox, the Planetbox Rover.

I’ve intended on posting a review of this box for months — after all, we’ve been using it since April or March. And, since the moment this shiny, stainless-steel box showed up on our doorstep, it’s been the only box Mr. Boy has wanted to use.

Unfortunately, it’s also been the box that the Little Lady and Barney Kneeknuckles have wanted for their lunches. We’ve had a few tough lessons on sharing around here.

The Upside

The Planetbox is a durable, non-toxic, and safe way to create fun, portion-controlled lunches.

Durable: the stainless steel can take a beating from kids AND the dishwasher and still come out looking good (in fact, each Planetbox comes with a “built to last 5-year warranty”). We’ve had ours for over six months and it’s been used primarily by a rough-n-tumble preschooler who doesn’t think about “keeping things nice.” He’s dropped it, slammed it, and thrown it in the sink. It survived. And, that dishwasher part I mentioned? It can be put in the top OR bottom rack. Awesome.

Non-toxic and safe: having a box made completely out of stainless-steel means you don’t have to worry about toxins leaching from plastic into your food. Plus, it won’t retain food odors the way plastic will.

Fun: The stainless-steel is pretty and shiny but Planetbox also offers magnets to dress up the outside of the box. We have the Outer Space set for Mr. Boy and he LOVES them. In fact, as I took pictures for this post, he was quick to point out I’d forgotten the most important part … his beloved magnets! In addition to the variety of magnets you can pick from, Planetbox has started offering customizable magnets. You can upload your own (non-trademarked materials) photos to personalize your child’s box

Portion-Control: It’s no secret that our country — as a whole — is struggling with rising obesity, even among our children. The Planetbox systems — of which there are three sizes (the Launch, the Rover, and the Shuttle) for varying needs — make it easy to avoid packing more food than is needed. There’s even a small section perfect for little treats (I left ours empty today since Mr. Boy was getting chocolate chips in his muffin).

A Few Downsides

I have yet to discover a truly perfect lunchbox … and, this one — as much as we love it — is no exception.

The Price — y’all, there is just no way around the fact that this is an expensive lunchbox. Granted, with the 5-year warranty, the money invested evens out over the years, but you’ll still have to hand over $59.95 for a complete Rover system: that’s the box, the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, and the Carrying Bag. Planetbox does offer cheaper bundles for the Rover, ranging from $39 to $49, but you won’t get all the accessories.

Heavy: Metal is heavy and that makes this box quite a load for younger kids. I generally carried Mr. Boy’s lunchbox into preschool for him because he didn’t like dealing with the heft.

Not Leak-Proof: the other box isn’t leak-proof. At. All. You’ll need to be mindful of that as you pack juicier veggies and fruit. But, Planetbox does offer leakproof containers that fit inside the lunchbox (the Big Dipper is large enough for yogurt, pastas, etc., and the Little Dipper is perfect for sauces and dressings), and we used those a lot during the school year.

Would I Buy It?

Yes. And I have! The box shown in this review was sent by Planetbox but I have since ordered a second one (I purchased it directly from the Planetbox site, but you can also find Planetbox products on Amazon). I’m budgeting to add a 3rd next month. The fact I can expect to get at least 5 years (if not more) of use from this durable box makes it worth it.

More Planetbox Rover Lunches

Here are several of the lunches I’ve shared on Instagram from the past few months. As you can see, there’s quite the variety of food one can pack in this box … some of them are my lunches!

{I Heart Lunch}

Time to share your lunch! What fun lunch boxes have you been packing for your family?

You can link to any kid-lunch/bento or family-friendly recipe on a blog post or via flickr photos — this linky is for any kind of healthy school lunch and kid-food, regardless if it is Bento-style or not. I want to celebrate our efforts to provide good and enjoyable school lunches for our families!

My only request is that you either add a link back to this post or include the Lunch Graphic (which links back) to your post so others can get here to view the linked lunches too!

Link up your school lunches and bentos! Please use a permalink for your post rather than linking your general blog/flickr account URL — this will help people go directly to your fabulous lunch!

Now — link ’em up!

disclosure: I received the Planetbox Rover for the purpose of this review; all opinions expressed are my own.

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About Rachel Lacy

Rachel Lacy is the author of Following In My Shoes, where she blogs about Mommyhood, Family-Friendly Recipes and Bento Lunches, and Life in Texas. She is a lover of all things Coffee and Nutella.
You can also connect with Rachel Lacy on Google+.

Welcome

My name is Rachel -- I share tales about food and family. I'm a home-cook who focuses on fresh meals to both fuel us and to help us celebrate our family-life. My day starts with coffee. Lots of coffee. Read More About Me.